This invention relates to a financial self service system having terminals such as automated teller machines (ATMs) which permit withdrawal of cash, balance inquiry etc. or home banking terminals by which financial transactions and inquiries can be initiated from a user""s home or office.
During the operation of an ATM or home banking terminal there are short intervals of time during which the machine is, for example, checking that a PIN (Personal Identification Number) just entered by a user is acceptable, or that the account holder requesting a cash withdrawal or transfer has sufficient funds to cover the amount, or (in the case of an ATM) is counting notes for presentation to the user. During these intervals, which in this specification will be referred to as opportunity intervals, it is known for an ATM to display a short message such as xe2x80x9cplease wait while your transaction is processedxe2x80x9d.
In European Patent Application No. 0 645 744 there is disclosed by the present applicant an ATM which operates in a predictive manner, in that when user enters their card, the machine identifies the user, predicts the transaction most likely to be requested by that user, and presents one or more relevant messages, such as xe2x80x9cDo you require £20?xe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cDo you require a mini statement?xe2x80x9d, in accordance with that user""s habitual transaction request or requests.
It is an object of the invention to provide a self-service device having improved facilities during opportunity intervals as hereinbefore defined.
According to the invention there is provided a method of operating a financial self-service system comprising the steps of:
receiving a request for a financial transaction initiated from a self-service terminal by a user;
authorizing said request;
and acting upon said request;
characterized by extracting a profile of said user from central user information storage means;
searching for a match between said profile of said user and a target customer profile stored in financial product profile storage means; and
if such a match is found, presenting to the user on said self-service terminal a sales presentation related to said financial product during at least one opportunity interval while authorizing and acting upon said request.